In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be exchanged for a financial discount, rebate, or other value related to goods or services. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in retail stores as a part of sales promotions. Coupons are often widely distributed through mail, magazines, newspapers and computer networks. Coupons distributed via computer networks have become popular because there is no postal cost and any printing cost is borne by the user, who may print the coupons, rather than the retailers issuing them.
Online retailers often refer to their coupons as “coupon codes,” “promotional codes,” “promotion codes,” “discount codes,” “key codes,” “promo codes,” “shopping codes,” “voucher codes” or “source codes.” Such virtual coupons typically provide for reduced cost or free shipping, a specific dollar or percentage discount, or some other offer to encourage consumers to purchase specific products or to purchase from specific retailers.